Two students earned their Post-Baccalaureate degree in Art Education from Moore.

In her opening remarks, Moore President Cecelia Fitzgibbon told students, “As intellectual, artist, teacher, curator, designer and entrepreneur, you walk toward your next step supported by this institution and with a competitive advantage: you are expert in solving problems creatively and you have the capacity to accept criticism and to learn from it.”

Devan Andre, an Art History major with a minor in Textile Design, was named the class valedictorian.

Alexandra Stepnoski, a Photography & Digital Arts major, was awarded the Happy Fernandez Women’s Leadership Prize. The $100,000 endowed prize has been established honoring Dr. Happy Fernandez (1939-2013), Moore’s seventh president, who led the college for 13 years. The $4,000 prize is presented to a graduating senior who participated in the college’s leadership programs.

Moore presented the Marian Locks Senior Award to Veronica Perez, a Fine Arts: 3D major. The Locks Family Foundation has given $100,000 to Moore to endow the $4,000 award for a graduating senior as she launches her career. Marian Locks (1914-2010) founded one of the first galleries in Philadelphia devoted exclusively to contemporary art.

Judith Tannenbaum, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum’s first Curator of Contemporary Art, was the commencement speaker. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts at the graduation ceremony. Listen to her speech.

In her speech, Tannenbaum told students: “Timing and luck can play important roles in one’s personal and professional choices, but, more important, is the ability to embrace opportunities and to take changes. These can be conscious or unconscious choices, but they are choices nonetheless.”

She added: “You are embarking on a wonderful adventure. Launching oneself into the professional world – without the safety net of school – can be scary but also enormously exhilarating and liberating…I wish you joy and satisfaction as you navigate the curvy road ahead.”